WSU’s NIT run continues Monday
COUGARS • UPDATED: 10:30 A.M.
I hope you are enjoying your NCAA-tournament watching as much as I am, though yesterday’s games – outside of the Pac-10 ones – didn’t seem as exciting as Thursday’s. We have more on the link, so read on.
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• Washington State: Not a lot here, though we are working on our advance stories for tomorrow and Monday. If you are wondering why WSU is playing on Monday, the reason is simple. Beasley Coliseum was booked yesterday and today for a home and garden show. The parking lots around the arena were packed yesterday, so it must be drawing well, but it kept the Cougars from playing today in the NIT, which might have been better not only in cutting down Oklahoma State’s prep time, but for whichever team wins, giving them more time to travel if Boston College defeats Northwestern, though, as I write this, Northwestern leads 38-31 at halftime on ESPN. … You can follow the NIT bracket here .
UPDATE: Northwestern did win, blowing out BC 85-67. Whoever wins Monday will host the Wildcats.
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• Around the Pac-10: Let’s see. The Pac-10 went 3-0 in the NCAA second round as better seeds and won by a grand total of seven points? Either the conference’s teams are battle tested – or they aren’t that good. … Washington held off a Georgia rally and survived a last-second Bulldog chance to tie to prevail 68-65. … Arizona’s Derrick Williams doesn’t play a lot of defense during the course of the game – the Wildcats need him on the court, so he tries not to foul – but when he does, he’s impressive . And his late block to seal the win was impressive. … The California Golden Bears didn’t have starting center Markhuri Frison-Sanders the whole game, then lost Jorge Gutierrez in the second half of a tight NIT contest at Colorado. From there it was all Buffalos, 89-72, and Cal’s season is over. … Florida is sort of Ben Howland’s Great White Whale, so the Bruins could do their coach a big favor by upsetting the Gators today.
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• That’s it for this morning. The Wildcats of Northwestern lead Boston College 56-45 in the second half as we post this, so if that holds, Washington State could be in line to play one more home NIT game – if the Cougars can overcome Oklahoma State. We’ll be back later this evening with our story. Until then …
* This story was originally published as a post from the blog "SportsLink." Read all stories from this blog